


When the Days Linger

by Ravensdawn



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:13:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8209837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravensdawn/pseuds/Ravensdawn
Summary: Teresa Lisbon was kidnapped.  How will the team handle it?





	1. Frustrations

**Author's Note:**

> Most of this is rated Teen and up. I tried to contain all the Explicit content in one chapter. That is Chapter 5, Self-Defence Class Gets Interesting. Tbh it got a little more E than I'd planned, but there you have it.

“Jane,” Cho was trying to speak with him.  All Jane would do is stare, maintaining eye contact, but not really seeing.   As best he could, Jane tore his eyes from Cho, turning away.  Shaking his head, he was so angry he couldn’t speak, he walked away, waving stop with his hand behind him.  He didn’t want to talk.  

“No.  You’re not the only angry one here.  You don’t get to walk off.”

Jane spun around, “Yes I can.  Look, this is me, walking off. I’m doing it.,” and he continued to do just that.

Cho nearly stomped over to catch up to him. “No.”

“You gonna stop me?!” the look on his face was something Cho hadn’t seen before.

Cho, looking defeated, halted his progress.  He was not going to make this physical.   Jane was goading him and he wasn’t going to fall for that.

But before he could even blink, Jane was there, both hands on Cho’s chest pushing him, a look in his eye, walking him backwards until his back thumped against wall.  Cho could have easily resisted, but he didn’t.  He met Jane’s glare with his own.

“Fuck………you” Jane whisper screamed at Cho, punctuated with shoves.

“Go to Hell” Cho gave as good as he got.

“How……how could you.” It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.

“I didn’t _.  I. Didn’t_. How could you think I would.” Not a question, either.

Then they were just staring, scanning, assessing.

Jane grabbed the collar of Cho’s suit and shook him, he wasn’t sure why, but he wanted Cho to fight back.  Of course Cho didn’t.  Jane pulled him off the wall and shoved him back with a thud.  Cho still didn’t respond, other than with mild surprise.   Jane’s fists clenched and released and clenched again.  Jane was a mess.  He was frightened, he was hurt, he was keyed up, adrenaline was screwing with him. Cho wasn’t much better, he was just as angry, just as frustrated.  Jane had one last sane thought, w _alk away_ , which was what he tried to do earlier. It was a mantra in the back of his head _walk away, walk away, walk away_ , Jane did his best to listen.

This time Cho grabbed Jane’s arm, in a last ditch effort to keep him there and have it out with him.  Jane’s other arm flew around with his closed fist and landed on Cho’s chest.  Jane hadn’t really meant to, but he had just hit Cho.  Cho couldn’t believe that Jane had just punched him.  Before he could stop himself, Cho shoved Jane and he fell to his butt on the floor.  Jane jumped up and ran at Cho – this is what he’d wanted, he wanted to feel something, he wanted a distraction. A fight would have to do.   His whole body slammed into Cho’s, but Cho, of course, was prepared.  He grabbed Jane, spun him around and had him in a head lock before Jane even knew what was happening.

Jane stomped on Cho’s foot and took advantage of the moment it startled Cho to wriggle out of his grasp and run.  Cho hadn’t tried that hard to hold him. He hadn’t wanted to hurt, just prevent from leaving.  Why were they even fighting, Jane starting a fight?  What was happening?  Still, he ran after Jane and tackled him. He was not going to let him leave. He pinned Jane down, arms behind his back, belly to the floor, Cho was done with this nonsense.

“Listen to me.  I never meant we were giving up.  I meant we needed a new strategy.”

Jane was breathing heavily, his face was red with effort and despite himself, there were tears in his eyes. “Let me up”

“Are you going to run?”

“No.”  But of course, as soon as Cho let up at all, Jane tried to escape.  Now, on top of everything else, he’d have to explain what the hell was going on. Cho got to the door first, though, and blocked it.

“Stop” Whenever Cho used that authoritative voice, everyone in earshot listened. Jane froze at the command then cringed inwardly at his own instinctive response.  That slight break in his movement gave Cho all the time he needed to capture Jane. He grabbed him and held on.   It was odd having him so close.

“Jane, stop. Talk to me.”  Cho was exasperated and confused and wanted to understand.

Jane had been struggling against Cho’s grasp.  Cho couldn’t believe the lengths he was going to here.  Why didn’t he just let him go? He was tired and he didn’t want to leave with Jane in the state he was in.  He didn’t want Jane angry with him, but why did he care?  He had Jane around the waist, his back to Cho’s chest.   Jane was trying to pull away, feet planted on the ground, still struggling.  Jane was just fighting to fight, it gave him something else to think about.  Cho decided to lift him up, take away his leverage.  Jane kicked his feet in protest, but stopped when he knew he had been beat. 

“Sorry Cho, I’m sorry.  I don’t know what I’m doing.  I don’t know what to do,” He was all but hanging from Cho’s grasp. 

“Obviously.  Your plan was to start a fight with me.”

To Cho’s surprise, Jane smiled a little at that.  That’s when they both noticed their proximity to one another and that Jane was essentially dangling helplessly in Cho’s arms.  “Put me down.  I’m done.”  

Lisbon had been missing.  For days.  Going on six days.  They had no leads, no ransom call, she had evaporated.  Cho had suggested they stop and reassess.  Maybe have another team look over the case.  It sounded to Jane like they were giving up. Cho was in charge by consensus of the team and Jane had taken his frustration out on him.   Six days of practically no sleep, anxiety and worry had taken their toll.  Jane’s suit was rumpled, who knows how many days he’d worn it. They filed a missing person’s report, put out a BOLO for her, started tracking down likely suspects. Jane had thought of everything his considerable brain could think of.   Rigsby and Van Pelt weren’t in much better shape.  Van Pelt had Lisbon’s phone, checked all the numbers in it, triangulated signals, looked into everyone in the last cases the team had worked on.  She even looked into Lisbon’s credit card receipts. Nothing.  Rigsby had lead the search of Lisbon’s apartment.  It looked like she had just been there.  Coffee still warm on the coffee table. 

“You’re not the only one upset, Jane.  I don’t know what to do either. I was making suggestions.”

“I know, I know, I do, I don’t know what I was doing.  I took it out on you.  I’m sorry.  We’ll think of something.  We will.  We have to.”

“We have to.” Cho agreed.  “But first you and everyone on the team have to promise to go home and get some sleep.  We’re all too wired to do anything.  Tomorrow things will seem better.”  Cho was trying to do what Lisbon always did for the team – stay positive and be there for them.

 

Lisbon set her cup of coffee on the coffee table.  Then her world went black.  She hadn’t heard a thing, the attacker must have been in her home, waiting for their chance.  That was an unsettling thought. There was a covering over her head and she was being lifted by very strong hands. She struggled, landed a few good hits, before, “Try that again and I will kill you, I don’t care what he says” was creepily spoken into her ear.  Lisbon was smart, she knew she’d have to wait to make her move.  Her hands were duct taped behind her and to her horror her ankles were also bound. They weren’t even going to let her walk with them.  She was being bodily lifted into some sort of vehicle.  She tried to listen to everything, searching for clues. There wasn’t much: the door closing, lots of shuffling feet, the sounds of her own neighborhood in the background.   Her captors hadn’t said anything else, not to her, not to each other.  There had to be at least two, but she didn’t think there were more than three. 

She had been laid down on the back seat of what must have been a minivan or large SUV.  She knew there was at least a driver and one person in the front passenger seat.  They were talking – mostly just “go left” or “another mile”, but it was enough to know there were two.  Then there was the person sitting next to her with the bad breath.  He, well she was fairly sure it was a he, wheezed when he breathed.  Whoever had spoken in her ear had a mustache that she’d felt on her cheek.  So three.  Three people had taken her. Two of the three were men, probably all three were men, but she wasn’t sure.  She could be wrong but she didn’t think there was anyone in the seat behind her.   Lisbon tried to keep a running count, to estimate the time in the car, and remember as many details as she could.  She knew her team would not stop until they got her back.  When they did, she wanted to be able to give as much information to nail these guys to the wall.  IF they didn’t kill her, that is.  She shoved that unhelpful thought down where it belonged.

The ride went on and on.  Lisbon stopped counting somewhere around 15 minutes.  They had definitely been on the highway from the sounds she could make out and 15 minutes on the highway could take them anywhere. Her count got distracted by the bumpy road they had turned onto.  She tried to think of a bumpy road 10 or 20 minutes from her house.  Could be anywhere, though, there’s lots of bumpy roads.  Still she catalogued that bit of info for later.  She wasn’t sure how much longer it had been, but they had stopped.  Again, she was lifted, this time slung over someone’s shoulder.  She could smell forest and dirt, then dank, cold, kinda musty.  She was placed on a bed or a cushion maybe, handcuffed to something.  All of this was embellished with short words from her captors.  “Don’t fight”, “Sit here”, “Don’t scream,” “We’ll bring food,” “Do what you’re told and we’ll all be ok”. He sounded young. The hood was taken off her head and before she could focus, her captor was out the door, which she could hear was being securely locked. 


	2. The Hunt for Lisbon Continues

The next morning, everyone was back at their desks, with at least a few hours of sleep behind them. Van Pelt walked up to Cho, seated at his desk. “I decided to look again at all the boss’ cases, focusing on missing persons cases, to see if there were any similarities.  I found this case from a few years back in which the victim went missing, there was no word and no trace.  Someone, they never knew if they were kidnappers or not, finally contacted the family, the Barnetts.  They never could find the callers.  It didn’t end well, though, they were told where find the body. Any leads they had gone cold and the case was never solved.”

Cho looked serious.  “Have you contacted anyone from the case?”

“The husband hasn’t been at work since the day before Lisbon was taken,” Van Pelt said with the same seriousness, but a bit of hope that they may have found a lead. “I haven’t been able to contact anyone about the son, yet, I’m working on it.”

“See what you can find out.  Anything.  Last known whereabouts, other family, jobs, anything.” Cho said, “Rigsby, help Van Pelt with whatever you can.”

“Yes, Boss” they said in unison, then looked at each other for making the mistake of calling Cho “Boss.” They both went to their desks to start digging into Anthony Barnett.

A half hour went by, with the whole team staring into their computers with a new intensity. 

“There’s nothing on Anthony Barnett, no record or anything, but his son, Edward, has a record going back to his teen years, mostly burglary and breaking and entering, receiving stolen goods, nothing too serious.  It was his mother who disappeared.  Guess he didn’t react well.”

“Bring him in,” Cho said, “take Rigsby.”

“On our way,” Van Pelt agreed.

 

After they’d left, Jane walked over to Cho’s desk.  “Can I talk to you?” Jane asked Cho.

“Sure”

“About yesterday.  I shouldn’t have fought with you.  I didn’t even mean to, not really.”

“It’s fine.  I’m not hurt.”

“That’s the thing.  I’ve been thinking.  It should hurt when I try to fight with someone.” Jane said with a little smirk.

“What are you saying?” Cho said cautiously.

“Would you teach me some self-defense moves?  Nothing fancy, but some basics?  If I’m going to keep doing this, I should be better at keeping myself safe,” Jane said, looking hesitant.

“No.”

“What?” Not that Jane didn’t expect some resistance, but just flat out “No” was worse than he had planned on.

“No, teaching you a little is more likely to get you hurt.  You’ll think you know what you’re doing. You won’t, not really.”

Jane stood there obviously trying to think of what to say to get Cho to help him, giving Cho his best puppy dog eyes to stall.

“Look, I’ll work with you, but it’s not going to just be basics.  I’ll teach you what I know.  I’m not leaving you half-prepared in the field”

“Oh,” Jane said thoughtfully.

“What, you don’t want to work?”

“That’s not it.  I didn’t think you’d….never mind, thank you, I can’t wait to learn.” Jane tripped over his words, tried to smile.   He didn’t think Cho would spend all that time on him. 

“You thought I wouldn’t want to spend all that time on you.” Cho stated, reading Jane’s mind.  “But if you could handle yourself in the field, it would be one less worry for the team.”  _Especially me_ , he thought, but immediately dismissed it.  He didn’t want Jane to read that thought on his face.   “We’ll start tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Cho” Jane smiled his biggest smile.  Cho did his level best not to show his excitement. When did Jane ever ask him for a favor that wasn’t about a case?  But the corner of his mouth turned up anyway.  It was neigh on impossible not to smile when Jane was smiling.

“By the way, it’s not going to be the son.  He’s never been violent; he’s not going to jump from being a thief to a kidnapper.  He may not have adjusted well to his mother’s death, but he’s not our guy” Jane said, thinking out loud to Agent Cho.

“Then who?”

Jane looked down, he was disappointing himself.  He didn’t know.  He felt so helpless, letting Lisbon down like this.  “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Rigsby and Van Pelt returned to the bunker empty handed. “Yeah, the kid broke his leg and Anthony’s been taking care of him. We finally tracked them down at the hospital.  It’s just a coincidence.  They send their good wishes and hope Lisbon is returned soon.  They felt sorry for us.”

Cho looked over from his desk and met Jane’s eyes, which were glad to have his hunch confirmed, but sad they didn’t turn out to be a lead.

 

Rigsby went into Agent Lisbon’s office to get the folder for a case he had asked her to look at.  It was something he had been doing in between cases. He was fiddling with a pen and of course he dropped it and it rolled under the couch.  He kneeled to reach for it.   That’s when he noticed a folder on the floor under the couch.  When looking at Lisbon’s cases, no one had thought to look under the couch.  Picking it up, he flipped it open.  Two seconds later his eyes went wide, and he ran out to the bullpen.

“You guys have to see this,” he said with excited seriousness.  “I just found this on the floor of Boss’ office.  Looks like she’d just been asked to speak at this guy’s parole hearingl.” The case was one that had been tied up in the courts for years.  Earl Raney had been convicted of killing his wife and Lisbon was the one who put him away.  He is up for parole; her testimony would keep him where she felt he belonged – in jail.  There was a note Lisbon wrote about setting up an appointment to speak to the prisoner.  It didn’t look like she’d been able to follow up yet.”

The team set to work, looking into anything and everything to do with the case.  This had to be it.  Something in here would explain what was happening.

“Who would benefit the most from Raney getting out?”  Jane asked the room.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to find out,” Cho replied.

 

Lisbon was getting antsy.  It had been three days, again.  They had moved locations after three days.  She wondered if they were going to move again tonight.   She hadn’t thought to keep track at first, then began a tally on the wall, concealed behind her mattress.  She felt like she’d fallen into a bad movie.  They were being quite nice, as kidnappers go.  They gave her food and let her use a restroom they had stripped of everything but a toilet and a sink.  They took turns watching her the whole time, which was weird, but understandable.  She spent most of her days on her mattress on the floor of what must have been a closet at one point.  The worst part was that she was always chained to something, either her hands or her ankles were always attached to something, usually both.  The chains were heavy.  She occupied herself with coming up with a plan, she just hadn’t thought of anything, yet. She was either on the mattress in full view or in the bathroom in full view, there was no time to do anything.

Her captors were a puzzling mix of cunning and idiot.  It concerned her that she’d seen all three’s faces, but it didn’t seem they’d considered that at all.  She hadn’t even seen a gun.  The plan was equally difficult to discern.  Had they made a ransom demand?  Were they really just hiding out?  They seemed to be making it up as they went, yet they had clearly prepared the places they were taking her to.  She knew her best bet was to get them talking, but that wasn’t going so well.  She tried to ask them things, get a dialogue going, but they’d always say something like “Oh, no, we’re not falling for that.  We’re not telling you anything” to the point where Lisbon wondered if they weren’t telling anything because there was nothing to tell.  But she heard muffled conversations of what sounded like they were planning something, so she tried to prepare herself. 

Then on the night heading into Day Seven, she was once again bound, hand and feet. Lisbon struggled of course, she wasn’t going to make it easy for them. This time she was able to keep her wrists apart a little while they wrapped them with duct tape. There wasn’t anything she could do about her ankles, one of the guys was holding them tight while the other bound them together.  When they got to the car, she asked if she could at least be seated upright for the ride.

“I get carsick.  I could throw up.”

Two of them looked at each other.  Lisbon learned who was in charge here with that glance, the scrawny guy with glasses and beady eyes.  Lisbon dubbed him just that, “Beady Eyes”.  Beady Eyes seemed to acquiesce to her request and “Mustache” sat her up in the car. 

“No funny business.”  At that, Lisbon shook her head and tried her best to look contrite.

Then it dawned on both of them.  Lisbon almost laughed.

“She’ll be able to see where we are, get the hood,” Beady Eyes thought he’d solved their problem.

“But someone could see the hood,” Mustache said, helpfully.

“Just lay her down!  What the Hell are we doing here?” Beady was frustrated with himself, “We don’t need this now on top of everything else.  Are you trying sumpthin funny?  Do you think this is funny?!” He screamed at Lisbon. 

While not terrifying, she wanted him to think she was terrified, so she looked the part. “No, I’m not.  Sorry. Sorry.” She held her bound hands up to cover her face.

It was the most Lisbon had heard either of them speak since she was taken.  Clearly they had very little idea what they were doing, clearly not much experience in the kidnapping business.  She was easily the smartest person present.  That gave her hope.  It also had to mean that the brains behind the operation was somewhere else, calling the shots. However, she did see that all of them were armed, which was a concern.

She laid down in the maybe 5-year-old green Ford Bronco, a detail noticed while these two idiots were arguing, in the back seat, only this time with her head toward the center seat. She wondered why her?  Why kidnap her?  She didn’t recognize them from a case, she didn’t have money, why?  The rest of the gang piled in the car and off they went.


	3. Self-Defense

“Let’s start with defensive moves.  Keep you from getting hit in the nose,” Cho said it with all seriousness, but smirked at Jane.

“Yeah, yeah, funny,” Jane responded.

Cho was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  Jane had taken off his vest and jacket.

They stood face to face in the gym.  “Ok, try to hit me in the head or face, but go slow so I can show you what to do,” Cho said. 

Jane looked dubious but swung at Cho’s head.  Cho brought his hands up in fists, arms practically covering his face and used his elbow to take the force of the hit. Jane swung again, again Cho blocked using his arm and elbow to protect his face.

“Ok, you try.”  He showed Jane how to hold his hands up, the best positioning to balance protection with visibility.  Jane watched Cho carefully through is hands.  Cho slowly moved to hit Jane.  Jane blocked with his arms, trying to use his elbows as efficiently as Cho.

“Good, that’s it,” Cho said. “Let me come at you a little faster. Remember, try to let your elbows take the brunt of the blow.”

Jane shook his arms out, then set his stance and put his hands back up.  Cho threw punches a little faster, but not quite what it would be in a fight.  Jane was able to handle them with ease.  So Cho, without telling Jane stepped it up, throwing almost a real hit.  Jane was able to block, but the force of the hit unbalanced his stance and he had to jump to the side to stay upright.

“Sorry, “Cho said.

“No, that’s the point of this isn’t it?  I need to be able to take a hit,” Jane said.  “I didn’t realize how much you were pulling your punches.”

“Well, you have the basic idea down, you’ll just need some practice.”  They spent a few more minutes working on that.  They worked a few minutes on getting Jane’s hand’s up quickly enough so he knew what to do when he saw a punch coming. 

“Let’s move on to getting out of a headlock,” Cho stated.

“Ok,” Jane said.

“You probably already know what a headlock is, but let me show you, so you can do it to me.” Cho instructed. He wrapped his arms around Jane’s neck, with Jane’s head under his armpit. “Like this.”

They stood up and Jane tried getting Cho into a headlock.  It’s something that had been done to him a few times, but it was different being on the opposite side.  “Cho, this isn’t me. I don’t want to fight.  Maybe this was a bad idea.”  He let go.

“No. This was a great idea.  There have been so many close calls as it is.  We won’t always be able to get there in time.  You might not always be able to talk your way out,” Cho was serious.

Jane studied Cho, new thoughts aligning _. He worries about me._ _Does the whole team worry about me, have they discussed it?_ “Are you concerned about taking me with you in the field? Am I a liability?”

Cho knew he’d better tread lightly here.  In fact, the team had discussed Jane. He was an amazing asset to have on their side.  He rapidly assessed situations and just as quickly knew what to do.  He had saved their skins on a number of occasions.   However, his unpredictability was difficult to plan for and all of them felt responsible for his safety.  Many of those occasions in which he saved them were situations he got them into in the first place.  Other than his words, he had no defense, and they did all worry about the one time his words wouldn’t be enough.  It was 50/50 on whether he let them in on his plan, leaving them to guess and improvise quite a lot.   He was an unknown, and limiting unknowns is always a goal when going after criminals.

“Of course not.  We need you in the field.  But you have to know that you have an effect on people. It’s not always good.  We deal with bad people.  They don’t appreciate your cleverness, especially when you’re sending them to jail.”

Jane absorbed this information. “So you guys have talked about me. I don’t mean to be a worry.” Jane stated, honestly. 

Cho rolled his eyes.  “Yes, you do.  You blunder in where angels fear to tread and assume we’re all on the same page and will get you out of the trouble you get in,” Cho said with a bite in his voice, this had bothered him for a while.

Jane’s face fell. Cho’s face fell in response. “I didn’t mean it like that.  You’re fearless. You don’t think,” Cho stopped.  He wasn’t used to saying things he didn’t mean to say.

“No, I get it.  I’m not a cop.  I don’t carry a gun.  I can’t fight.  I’m useless to you,” Jane said calmly, still maintaining eye contact.

“You’re not useless,” Cho blurted out, then paused, tried to gather his thoughts, and failed.  “We need you .  We worry, okay?  We worry we’ll misunderstand.  We worry you’ll get hurt because of it,” Cho was upset, but you’d only know by the crease in his forehead.  He was saying things he didn’t want to admit and he never wanted Jane to know. 

“We?” Jane asked skeptically.

Cho was silent. He saw Jane’s smug “I-know-what’s-going-on” face, and knew the gig was up. Jane knew.

“Me.  I worry.” Cho reluctantly spit out, then tried to look anywhere but at Jane.  He took a deep breath.

A slow smile spread across Jane’s face.  “You worry about me, I’m touched,” Jane teased.

“Of course I do.  You’re a member of my team,” Cho said, trying to pass it off as routine concern about his coworkers.

Jane just smiled some more and said, “Okay, let me try that headlock again.”

Cho thanked Jesus, God and any deity he could think of that Jane let the matter drop. He let Jane put him in a headlock and continued with the lesson. 

“I know it feels strange, but you need to know what it’s like for the attacker.  It will help you in the heat of the moment.  I have no doubt, you’ll take that info and use it against someone trying to hurt you.”

Something had changed between them.  Cho couldn’t really put a finger on it, but he liked it.  Jane wasn’t holding back, he was closer, more comfortable.  He wasn’t keeping a polite distance. 

For Jane’s part, he was glad to know he meant something to the whole team.  He’d rankled at first at the idea of them talking about him, but now it felt like caring.  He hadn’t had people in his life who took an interest in him like that in many years. People assume Jane knows what they think, but he’s only human, he doesn’t know. He especially didn’t know where he stood with Cho.   Cho was exceptional in his ability to hide his thoughts.  You had to pay very close attention and Jane wasn’t always able to.  Cho also excelled at reading other people and Jane never could quite tell what Cho had decided about him.  It seemed that whatever Cho had figured out, he still wanted Jane around.  This idea was almost overwhelmingly reassuring. 

Jane realized that Cho was speaking to him.

Cho was explaining that doing what Jane did earlier – stomping Cho’s foot – to get out of a headlock isn’t usually as effective as it had been.  It had only worked because Cho wasn’t really trying to hold on. He explained to Jane that in a real situation, an attacker might instead instinctively increase their grip.  His best bet was to fight dirty.

“When you are in a headlock, your attacker’s hands are busy, while yours are free,” he said, “you should try to punch them in the groin, ideally as hard as you can.” He paused when he noticed that Jane had really only started paying attention a moment ago.  They made eye contact, Cho wondering if Jane was going to take this training seriously, Jane shrugging an apology.

Cho went back to his explanation.  “If I were to do that to you right now, what would you do?” He pretended to hit Jane in the groin.

Jane thought for a moment and jumped his hips back, away from Cho’s fist.  But that loosened his grip around Cho’s neck, and he hadn’t even been hit.   He wasn’t even in pain.  Cho then reached up with the hand closest to Jane, put it under and to the side of Jane’s face and pushed up and back, firmly.  Jane’s head went back, he completely let go of Cho and sort of wheeled away in reaction.

“Depending on your situation, you could then run away or use that moment of distraction to attack.”

Jane nodded.

“I suggest you run,” Cho said with a smirk.

Jane rolled his eyes.

“Ok, let’s switch places and you try.” Cho went on.

They did just that.  They spent some time practicing both of the techniques, with Cho making it more difficult for Jane as they went. Cho had explained that he would eventually attack without warning, to give Jane practice with that, so Cho came at Jane, attacking him.  Jane blocked several punches and one punch that probably would have knocked him down earlier and he was momentarily proud of himself.  But the thought distracted him and Cho nearly landed a blow.   Jane had reached up to block but instead ended up grabbing Cho’s arm which was moving towards him.  Cho realized just before and pulled the punch, but it was a little too late.  He tried to miss Jane’s cheek but caught him under his eye.  The manoeuver twisted Jane’s body and he lost his balance.  Cho’s momentum knocked Jane over and Cho couldn’t recover because Jane was clinging to his arm.  They fell, with a thud, Cho on top of Jane. 

“Oomph”

“Ow”

They both started laughing.  

Then Cho reached up to feel Jane’s cheek to see if he was badly hurt.  It would bruise, but not too much.

“Are you ok, does it hurt?” Cho asked but Jane was busy registering that Cho was on top of him touching his face gently, with what Jane could only describe as tender concern.  There was a moment of intense eye contact.

“It’s fine.  I’m fine.”  His voice was pitched a little higher than usual.   Jane never liked admitting that he was anything other than fine and he was a little flustered, betrayed by his own voice.

Cho looked away.  He pushed himself up and got back to his feet.  He reached a hand out to help Jane up.

“Let’s get you some ice.”

“Yeah, ok.”


	4. The Case

“Cho! Have you seen Cho?” Van Pelt excitedly asked Rigsby.

“No, why” Rigsby got caught up in her enthusiasm.

“I got this text,” she said and held up her phone for Rigsby to see.

The text read, “50E  L  Gn Brco”

“I think it’s from Lisbon” Van Pelt said with cautious optimism.

“Let’s get Cho and Jane,” Rigsby said and they went off to try to find them.  They didn’t have far to go.  They found them in the break room, Jane at the table with a frozen burrito on his face, Cho fixing coffee.

Van Pelt and Rigsby looked at them quizzically and then at each other.  Their news was too important to wonder what Jane and Cho had been up to.

“Guys, Grace got a strange text.  We think it might be Lisbon.”  Rigsby explained.  They showed the text to Jane and Cho.

“50E could be Route 50 East out of Sacramento,” Jane suggested, “they’ve been on the road.  That’s why we’ve had nothing.”

“We don’t know that yet,” Cho reminded him.

“Gn Brco could be green Bronco,” Rigsby said, “We should put a BOLO out for a green Bronco, especially on Route 50.”

“Kind of a longshot, but worth a try.  I’m on it,” Cho headed over to his desk to make a phone call.

“It’s not a longshot.  Earl Raney’s daughter, Tracy, owns a green Bronco,” Van Pelt had been trying to get a word in edgewise.  “Tracy has written to her father at least every week since he’s been incarcerated.  She’s been to visit him regularly, along with her brother, Tim.  Both have always maintained that Earl is innocent of their mother’s death.  The two of them desperately want their father back at home.”

“You think they’d kidnap Lisbon to stop her from speaking at the hearing.” Jane stated.  “It’s a good theory. Can we find out if they have any other residences?  Vacation home or cabin or something?” Jane was getting hopeful, finally something that made some sense.  “We should try to find out about friends or relatives, for their plan to work, they can’t be involved.” Jane added.

“What?” It was Van Pelt who asked.

“Well, if the goal is to have dear ol’ Dad back at home where they can all live happily ever, it wouldn’t do if they ended up in jail for kidnapping,” Jane explained. 

“I’ll see what I can find out about where the text came from, look into their financials,” Van Pelt said and was off to her desk.

“I’ll look into family and acquaintances,” Rigsby added.

They were all happy to have something productive, something that seemed would help them find Lisbon.

 

Lisbon was laid on the back seat, but they hadn’t put the hood on her this time.  She didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.  Good in that she could sneak peeks out the windshield from time to time.  Bad, because it meant they were probably going to kill her and they didn’t care what she saw.  They stopped for gas and Lisbon hoped she had finally gotten her chance to do something.  She couldn’t believe her luck when Bad Breath’s phone fell out of his pocket.  He got out of the truck at the gas station and the phone laid on the seat.  Glancing up at the front seat, Lisbon inched her hands up to try to get the phone without Mustache seeing.  She managed to grab it but she was afraid it would light up if she used it.  She decided it was now or never, so covering as best she could, she typed in Van Pelt’s number and typed out “50E L Gn Bnco” hoping Van Pelt and the team would figure it out. Just as she was hiding the phone down between her knees, Bad Breath got back in the car.  She was counting on Bad Breath not noticing the missing phone.

 

Now that they had a lead, they were all working overtime.  Rigsby and Cho went and brought in Tracy, who lived nearby.  They were still tracking down Tim.  Search warrants were obtained and houses were searched.  No Lisbon.  The cell turned out to be a burner phone that couldn’t be traced.  Still working on whether they owned other properties.  Cho started interviewing Tracy.  Jane, Van Pelt and Rigby watched from behind the mirror.

“Where’s Teresa Lisbon” Cho decided to jump to the point.

“I don’t know.  I don’t.  I don’t know,” Tracy said, sounding like she was telling the truth.

“But you know who does know.” A statement from Cho.  He’s already so done with her.

“No. No I don’t,” she said, much less confidently than before.

“Do you own a green Bronco?” he asked Tracy.

“No.”

“Yes you do, we have it on file.”

“It was stolen.

“Did you report that?”

“No, it was still stolen,” Tracy said.  Even she knew that sounded bad.

“Sure.  It happens. Cars are stolen and used to kidnap people all the time,” Cho added.

“Yeah.  Yeah, that must be what happened,” Tracy said grasping at straws.

That was when Jane broke in.  “Your brother gave you up.   He told us all about it.  You and Tim wanted your father back home and if Agent Lisbon testified, he’d have to stay in jail, so you kidnapped her to keep her from speaking at the hearing,” Jane said all at once, watching her face and reactions.

You didn’t have to be Jane to see what was written all over Tracy’s face. At least some of what he’d said had rung true.

Tracy covered pretty well though and kept her silence.

Jane turned cold, his voice filled with menace.  “You need to understand.  You are involved in the kidnapping of a CBI agent.  More than that, Agent Lisbon is important. To us. To me.  That’s three CBI agents and me willing to do whatever it takes.   If _any_ harm comes to her, I will spend the rest of my life making sure your father never sees the light of day, innocent or not!” Jane can be scary when he wants to be.

That’s all it took.  Tracy had fear in her eyes, but her voice was still clear. “She’s not hurt. They’re not going to hurt her.”

“Tell us where she is.  If she’s unharmed and you’re seen to be cooperating, maybe the DA will deal,” Cho said calmly but firmly.

“She’s at our family cabin out almost to Tahoe,” Tracy admitted.

Cho had her write down the address.

“When we get Lisbon back, you’re going to tell us the whole story,” Cho said with resolve, and got up to leave.

“One more thing, we don’t have Tim, Jane just said that,” Cho informed her.  He smiled, she scowled.

 

They took two vehicles as everyone wanted to be there when they got Lisbon back. They had alerted the local police, who were keeping an eye out until they got there.  They pulled up to the log cabin, so suited to its environment it would be easy to miss.   It had one floor and maybe two bedrooms in the back.  There was a covered porch that wrapped around the right side.  It looked like it was fairly well kept up and there was a steady stream of smoke coming from the chimney.  Idyllic except for the fact that they all knew Lisbon was inside against her will.

They all put on their vests.  Rigsby went around back.  Cho and Van Pelt went to the front door.  Cho gave the signal, Van Pelt alerted Rigsby, and they all rushed in, guns up. 

“Clear!” Rigsby yelled from the back.

“Clear!” Van Pelt yelled.

“Clear!” Cho yelled.

They met in the kitchen still on alert.  They checked the closet door, then moved on to search the cabin.  No one.  People had clearly been here and the Bronco was outside.  Jane came in when he’d heard them all holler clear and no other sounds indicated danger.  He glanced around and stated the obvious.

“They must have run.”

 

Lisbon managed to conceal the phone while she was carried inside.  They left her bound on the couch while they settled in.  They were getting things arranged, starting a fire, figuring the best way to make the cabin work as a hideout.  Lisbon could see that this must be a contingency plan.  No one had been out here for a while, no one prepared the place like the other places she had been.  There wasn’t even any food in the fridge.  She was beginning to see that these people didn’t particularly mean for her to come to harm.  They’d have killed her by now, but that just made the plan more confusing.  What could they hope to gain from this?   Kidnapping had to be the most serious crime they’d ever committed.  She even wondered if Bad Breath had gotten roped into something he really wasn’t on board with.  He looked guilty and sorry almost all the time. 

That’s when Bad Breath’s phone twirped.  All three of them turned to her, fear on their faces.  The damned thing rang again.  It was clearly coming from where she was sat.  Looks of fear turned to horror as they realized the ramifications of Teresa Lisbon having a phone.  They converged on her, anxiously searching for the phone.  She was shoved aside and the phone fell out of her hands.  Beady Eyes was the first to be angry and he slapped Lisbon across the face. 

“Hey!” Moustache screamed. “We said we wouldn’t hurt her!”

“That was before she took the phone.  She has to have alerted the CBI by now.  They’re on their way, no doubt.” Beady Eyes yelled nervously.

“How long do you reckon it’ll take them to get here?” Bad Breath said, searching his phone.

“Two hours give or take,” Beady said.

“This text was sent almost three hours ago,” Bad Breath informed them, holding up the phone for them to see.

“Damnit” Mustache cursed.

As if on cue, that’s when they heard vehicles approaching in the distance.  Mustache covered Lisbon’s mouth with duct tape and warned her not to make a sound.  He put a coat over her shoulders and put on his own.  He hoisted her up and over his shoulder.  She kicked and hit as best she could with bound hands and feet.  Bad Breath took hold of her hands to keep her still.  It didn’t work. She kept thrashing, making a nuisance of herself, stalling for time, but they both held on tighter and gave her a stern warning to cut it out or else.  So she started screaming even if it was muffled by the tape.  That earned her a knit cap shoved over her head and a solid blow across her muffled face.  With shocked looks on all three faces, the others bundled up and as quietly and quickly as they could and they set off on foot into the woods. 

 

“There’s a path out back.  Let’s start there,” Rigsby offered and they all agreed. 

“I’ll get the locals to keep watch in case they circle round,” Cho stated.

With their guns raised, they cautiously went out back.  There were a couple of discernable footprints indicating direction.  They fanned out and began to search.  The footprints were easy enough to see where the ground was damp, but once they were under cover of the trees, the path wasn’t as clear.

“Ssssh!” Jane shushed them.  “Listen”

They all listened.  Snapping branches way ahead to their left.  They all set off, scanning the woods as they went.

The three kidnappers moved as quickly as possible, but not being country folk and not used to carrying another person around, they were tiring.  They found a copse of trees that would conceal them for a moment and they stopped to catch their breath.

“This is stupid,” Mustache grumbled.

“Where are we even going?” Bad Breath asked.

“Shut up, both of you,” Beady Eyes shouted.

Lisbon had come to several minutes ago and had to admit she was with Mustache on this plan.  She was very glad of it.  All she had to do was survive the next few minutes and stall when she could.  She had always known the team would find her, and she knew they couldn’t be too far away. 

They heard the team getting closer.  Lisbon started making noises as best she could.  She realized that if she kicked her feet, the bushes would rustle.  She did that until they stopped her, then started wiggling around so that it would be difficult to run while carrying her.  They tried having two people carry her by the hands and feet.  An outside observer would have been amused.  They were not.  They cursed, loudly, forgetting themselves.

 

The rattling bush was enough for the team, the curses just confirmed their location.   They fanned out and were able to nearly circle the little group. 

Cho made himself visible, aimed his gun right at the man with Lisbon and shouted, “Don’t move!!”

Then several things happened at once.  After recovering his wits, the man dumped Lisbon on the ground, practically throwing her at Cho and took off in the other direction.  The other two men took that as a suggestion and ran.  One ran straight into Van Pelt and her gun, stepping out from behind a tree, stopping him dead in his tracks. 

“Down on the ground! Now!” Van Pelt shouted in her best CBI voice.  The man obeyed, Van Pelt cuffed and searched him, taking his gun.

Rigsby tackled the man who had had Lisbon when he ran away from Cho.  He cuffed him and took his gun.

Jane made a beeline for Lisbon.  “Lisbon, Lisbon, you okay?” He was peeling off the hat and gently removing the duct tape.  “Sorry, so sorry it took us so long,” he added.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay,” Lisbon said and they hugged right there on the ground. “I knew you’d come.” Both pair of eyes rimmed in tears as they held onto each other tight.

“Got you, I’ve got you.  It’s going to be ok,” Jane soothed.  He rubbed her back.

Cho ran for the third guy.  The guy was fast, but no match for Cho.  He brought him back in handcuffs to where the group had been gathering.  Jane was helping Lisbon get the tape off of her ankles, standing her up and wrapping her in the coat she had.  They walked back to the cabin.  They put the perpetrators in the vehicles and locked the doors.

Van Pelt ran up to Lisbon and gave her a big hug.  “It’s so good to have you back.”

Rigsby smiled his greeting, while Cho went in for a hug, too, smiles on everyone’s faces.

 

Lisbon woke in her hospital bed to a smiling Patrick seated next to her bed.  She took in her surroundings and gave a weary smile.  She had an ace bandage on her wrist and a white gauze taped to her forehead.  It was the broken ribs that had kept her in the hospital, though.

“I can’t believe that whole time not a scratch until that idiot threw me on the ground,” Lisbon whined.

“They aren’t the brightest bulbs in the shed,” Patrick joked, happy that that put a real smile on Lisbon’s face.

“I knew it,” Lisbon added. “What have you found out.”

Jane explained about Earl Raney and his parole hearing.   “The three men were friends of a friend of Tim Raney.  They thought they could get Earl out on parole if they just stopped you from speaking at the hearing.   Never would have worked, but  then they borrowed Tracy’s truck,” Jane rolled his eyes at their gross incompetence. 

 “Now they’re all going to join Earl in jail instead,” Jane smirked at the irony. “The team is still interviewing them as we speak.” 

Van Pelt came in with a cheery balloon and coffee.

“The doc said it was ok to have a little,” she said and handed one to Lisbon, “Just how you like it.”

“That’d be my cue to be off,” Jane said.

Both women tried to object, but he knew they were just being polite.

 

Back at the CBI offices, Rigsby had just finished interviewing David Haroldsen, aka Beady Eyes.  David had been paid by Tracy and Tim to help them kidnap Lisbon.  It was as simple as that.  Problem was that as soon as Lisbon was taken, they postponed the hearing anyway.   The kidnappers had thought they would only have to keep her for six days.  They thought they were being clever moving after three days.  Then they found out that the hearing had been postponed for two weeks.  That was when they moved to the cabin.

 

Cho was interviewing “Mustache”, Gary Tipoli, in the interview room.  He’d already gotten all the pertinent information he needed from him, but couldn’t resist a few more questions.

“I’m curious.  How were you going to return Lisbon?” he asked.

“We was going to leave her nearby in a park with her phone.  We figured she’d get herself home after that.” For reasons Cho couldn’t fathom, Gary actually looked proud of that plan.

“No one’d know it was us.  How could they?  We’d be long gone,” Gary added.

“Hmm.  Sure. Woulda worked,” Cho said and left the room.

“If she hadn’t gotten her hands on that phone, it would have!” Gary shouted to Cho’s back.


	5. Self-Defense Class Gets Interesting

Cho walked up to Jane on his couch.  “Ready?”

“Ready for what?” Jane said around a bite of sandwich.

“Got something to show ya,” Cho answered, taking the plate with the sandwich from Jane, while Jane made a face.

“That’s mine, you want one, get your own,” Jane said, but Cho kept walking and Jane, for lack of anything better, followed him out.

Cho led Jane to the gym.

“I’m going to teach you how to get out of a naked choke hold,” Cho said.

“Isn’t that what we did last time?” Jane asked.

“No, this is different.  This hold is about cutting off air supply and I’ll show you how to get out of it,” Cho explained.  “Stand in front of me, “Cho added.

Cho put his right arm around Jane’s neck and pulled him back toward him.  Then he put his left arm behind his neck. “This is the hold.  Does this make sense?” Cho continued his explanation “the attacker squeezes your throat between his arms.  To escape, the idea is to step your leg behind the assailant’s leg and kick it out.  But be prepared because you will both fall to the mat.” 

“Yeah, let me try,” Jane responded.

They traded positions. Cho immediately stepped his leg behind Jane’s and kicked.  Jane lost balance as he knew he would and they both fell to the mat. Cho released his hold as they fell.  Jane took his chance and rolled away, pushing himself up to standing.

“I bet I’m supposed to run now, right?”

“Yup. Right now you’re learning how to stay alive long enough for us to get there.”

“There’s another way to get out of the hold,” Cho said, “Let’s try again with you as the attacker.”

Jane put Cho in a choke hold again.  This time Cho stepped behind Jane leg, but instead of unbalancing them, he picked up Jane’s leg and lifted him bodily up.  He turned his body and put one arm behind Jane’s back.  Jane had no warning, so he instinctively clung to Cho, but not before releasing the choke hold.  His arms were around Cho’s neck and he was holding on tight. Cho was carrying Jane bridal style and they both burst into laughter.

“I’m supposed to marry my attacker, carry them over the threshold?” Jane asked, still laughing.

“Most attackers would be trying to get away, not get closer,” Cho added, “Interesting technique. I wasn’t sure what to do with you.”

There was a moment of intense eye contact.  This was getting to be a habit.

Jane raised his eyebrows. “Most people being attacked wouldn’t be getting closer either.  You were supposed to throw me on the ground.”

Cho took this moment to put Jane down. He didn’t raise to the bait. They both stood and straightened their clothing. Cho glanced at Jane when he wasn’t looking.  Jane’s heart was pounding and he ignored it.

Cho took a deep breath.  “OK, I’m the attacker.  Try the kick out method first.”

Jane tried.  He really did.  But he couldn’t unbalance Cho.  He couldn’t kick his leg out from under him, the most he could manage was to possibly leave a bruise.  Cho was a wall. Jane improvised and tried to pick up his leg instead, like Cho had just done to him.  No luck.  Cho just looked at him, as if challenging him to think of something.  A real attack like this, and Jane would have passed out, or worse, by now.

Then Jane did something Cho wasn’t expecting.  Jane remembered that when he was a kid, his dad used to kick the back of his knee playfully and it would make Jane bend his leg.  Jane tried it on Cho.  It worked, enough to make Cho wobble a bit.  That’s when Jane fully kicked Cho’s leg from behind and down they went.  ‘

“Where did you learn that trick?” Cho asked.

“My Dad,”

“Should have known.”

They lay there for a moment catching their breath.

“What do I do if that happens?  What if that little trick doesn’t work? What if I can’t do it? What if I’m up against someone even stronger than you?” Jane sounded worried. “Maybe you were right and a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, in this case literally.”

“There’s one more move to try,” Cho said hopefully.  “C’mon, let’s do it again.”

Jane put Cho in the choke hold once again.  This time Cho turned his whole body around. He moved in slow motion so Jane could follow.  As he turned, he used his hands to push against Jane’s torso and pushed him away, simultaneously pulling his own body in the other direction to break the choke. Jane stepped away.

“If that was real, I’d be on the ground, right?” Jane asked.

“That’s the plan”

“Ok, show me again and don’t be gentle,” Jane stated.  There was that eye contact again.  _Am I imagining that?_   Jane thought.

This time Cho moved so fast Jane didn’t know what hit him.  He was on his ass on the floor before he even blinked.

“Shit”

“That’s how it’s meant to be done.  You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, let me give it a go” Jane looked defeated though.  “I’m not you, Cho.  A real bad guy trying to hurt me……” Jane trailed off.

“You just started. Give it time. You have an advantage.  In any fight.  Two actually, “ Cho said honestly. “One, you’re still smarter than any of them and two, they’re not going to expect you know how to fight,” Cho smiled a bit to take the sting out of what he just said.

“Thanks, but I’m not sure what cleverness is going to do for me in these situations,” Jane wasn’t amused.

Cho frowned a bit and helped Jane up.  “I didn’t teach you that knee thing.  That was you.  Try again,” is all he said.

He did try again. And again and again and again.  He couldn’t just turn himself like Cho did until he started using Cho’s stability against him.  He put his foot on Cho’s chin and used it as leverage to fully pivot around. This allowed him to put his hands on Cho’s torso and push. 

“See, you used your intelligence just now.  Except don’t push at my chest, go lower, the gut is more vulnerable.  Make sure you know where you’re going to put that foot back down,” Cho instructed.

Jane put his hands lower, but he didn’t want to push hard enough to hurt.  Cho’s shirt had ridden up and Jane’s hands ended up on skin.  He did shove, but all they ended up doing was backing Cho to the wall.

“It’s ok,” Cho said quickly, but something had changed.  They were so close. Cho’s arms were around Jane, Jane’s hands were touching the skin just above his waistband. They were breathing the same air, Cho had practically spoken into Jane’s ear.  Jane turned his face to meet a pair of questioning eyes.  He was breathing deeply from the effort.

“Kimball”

Several moments of searching each other’s faces, and a decision was made.  Cho pulled his hands back and cradled the back of Jane’s neck with his thumbs turning Jane’s face where he wanted it.  He leaned in, looking at Jane’s lips and very carefully kissed him. When Jane didn’t run, he pulled back and kissed him again, still just lips to lips, but with a little more confidence.  Jane opened his mouth, pulling Cho’s open too. It was slow and cautious and gentle.  They touched tongues. Jane loved doing that, felt like he was stepping inside, the beginning of becoming one. He sighed without breaking contact.  Jane moved his hands up under Cho’s shirt, skimming them around to his lower back. 

“Don’t give up on these lessons” Cho leaned back and said, then went back to kissing.

“Never” Jane was joking.

“I mean it.  If something were to happen to you…..”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me” Jane tried to put reassurance in his next kiss.

“….and I could have done something….”

“I’m right here and you are doing something,"

“….I don’t know what I’d do…” they were speaking between kisses.

“You’d never let anything happen to me.” It was said with such honesty, Cho was taken aback.

“You drive me nuts,” Cho spoke again, this time looking into Jane’s eyes.

“Right now, you’re driving me crazy,” Jane answered, “See?” Jane put his hands on Cho’s waist and pulled their lower bodies together.  It was obvious to Cho just exactly how he was driving Jane crazy. Cho was right there with him.  Cho groaned.

“Take me home,” Jane demanded.

“It’s the middle of the day,” Cho argued.

“Really? That’s what you’re going with? The middle of the day?” Jane whined.

Jane kissed Cho, then kissed across his cheek to his ear. “Please,” Jane whispered in Cho’s ear. He rubbed up against Cho.  Cho melted.  It felt so good.  Cho hadn’t been with a guy for a few years and while he knew he liked it, he’d forgotten how much he did.  The scruff against his cheek, the broad shoulders, the masculinity of it all.  But beside that, he had to admit he was seduced by the idea that he was wanted by Patrick Jane, one of the most intriguing people he’d ever met.  He was already in love with the way Jane thought, loved the challenge of keeping up with him, and even loved the antics he got up to. Jane was attracted to him.  It was that thought that kept rolling over and over in Cho’s head.

“Okay.  Let’s go to the attic. Less suspicious than leaving,” Cho went on, “You first.  I’ll be there in 10.”

“Yes!” Jane said with a smile as big as the sun.  His blown pupils and blond curls made him the most attractive thing Cho had ever seen.

Seven minutes later, Cho was at the sliding door. As soon as the door was closed and locked, Cho was all over him.  His mouth was on Jane’s while his hands worked the buttons on that damned vest of his. Jane was returning the favor, undoing any button he could get his hands on, loosening the tie.  They managed to get a lot of the buttons, but they finally had to stop kissing and finish off their own.  In sync, they both removed their shirts.  Jane left his pants on and laid down on his makeshift bed.  He opened his arms in invitation but Cho had other ideas.  He walked up to Jane and started undoing his belt and button and zip.  He walked to the short end of the bed, grabbed Jane’s ankles and pulled him closer until his legs hung down over the edge at the knee. 

Cho grabbed the waist of Jane’s pants and underwear.  He looked up for permission.  That was a mistake. He was momentarily stunned.  Jane was up on his elbows, all golden skin, the sun glowing a halo around him and a look of unabashed lust on his face.  Cho’s felt it from his ears to the base of his spine.  His skin flushed down to his nipples.  Jane sat up and kissed Cho so soundly Cho wondered if he’d ever need to be kissed again.  Jane lifted himself up a bit and indicated for Cho to remove the rest of his clothing.  In doing so, Cho’s head ended up right where he wanted to be.  He took Jane’s penis into his mouth and sucked. Jane purred or growled, depending on how you wanted to describe the deep rumbling sound that came straight from his chest. Cho, who wasn’t in the mood to drag this out, dropped his jaw and opened his throat and took Jane right down to the base.  Jane’s eyes went wide. His abs instinctively curved inward and his knees pulled in. 

“Aaaahh,” Jane didn’t even mean to make that sound, it was embarrassingly high pitched. “God, Cho.”

Cho kept right on doing what he was doing.  Up and down, sometimes suckling the tip, sometimes not. Jane was holding himself up with one hand and rested his other on Cho’s head.  Cho took him to the base again, but this time he swallowed in the back of his throat, around Jane. Jane’s head fell back, in mouth-opened bliss.  Cho kept going alternating techniques.   Jane whimpered while his whole body reacted to what Cho was doing. First, this was Cho.  Calm, cool, reserved Cho was giving him the blow job of his life. Jane was trying to wrap his head around this idea.   _Should have known_ Jane thought _.  Cho knows everything_.  Second, it’d been a while.  Jane was covered in goosebumps.  He finally stopped Cho so he could kiss him.  Nothing to do with how close he was, honest.

Jane worked the buckle of Cho’s pants.  They dropped to the floor. Jane pulled down his underwear and Cho stepped out of them.  Cho stood between Jane’s legs and they smiled at each other.

“Hey” Jane said quietly.

“Hey” Cho answered.

“That was crazy good”

Cho smiled.

“Now c’mere and fuck me” Jane said, producing a wrapped condom seemingly from thin air. He proceeded to open it.  He reached for Cho’s cock and expertly put the condom on him.  When he looked up, Cho’s face was a mix of wonder and lust and something else Jane couldn’t name.

“Was that ok?” Jane decided he’d better ask.

“You are a never-ending surprise,” Cho, “What am I going to do with you?”

“I just told you what you’re going to do with me,” Jane smirked.

Cho smiled despite himself and kissed Jane while simultaneously laying him back.  Cho lifted Jane’s knees, opening him up.

But Jane wiggled out of his hands and scooted back on the bed.  Cho panicked a little, concerned he’d done something wrong.

“It’s okay, Kimball, I’d rather this way. Come up here with me?,” Jane opened his arms and legs in invitation. 

Of course Cho climbed up on the bed with him, but he wanted to know what just happened.

“Too exposed,” Jane responded to Cho’s unasked question.

“Sorry”

“Don’t be”

They kissed to reassure each other, to get back on even ground.

“Sorry” This time it was Jane.

“Don’t be” Cho said with a smile and Jane smiled, too.

Jane laid back taking Cho with him and they indulged in a few moments of full body skin to skin contact, kissing with tongues, erections growing between them.  This is what Jane wanted. He realized how much he craves this.  Since his family’s death he’d often wondered at his own presence. He often felt “floaty” as if he’s not securely on the earth.  He had moments of feeling ethereal like he might turn to mist and dissipate out of existence.  But Cho was real, and beautiful, and strong and caring. Cho looked out for him, protected him.  His body was warm and soft and hard.  With Cho on top of him and surrounding him, it made him feel real, too, his own body felt solid, he felt sane.  You take all that and the fact that they were rubbing their erections together and he was more than turned on. 

Jane lifted his knees, letting Cho sink between them.  Cho took the hint.  He reached down to guide himself.  He put the tip of his penis between Jane’s cheeks, looking for the right spot.  He felt Jane shuffling around and looked up just as a small bottle of lube landed on the mattress. Cho didn’t say anything.  He poured some of the lube on himself and on Jane.  He found his mark and pushed. 

He looked up to check on Jane and was met with yet another beautiful sight. Jane’s eyes were closed, his lips were pink, and he was smiling in his pleasure, lost in sensations.  Cho leaned down and sucked on one of Jane’s nipples.  Jane arched his back, pushing his chest up and held onto Cho’s head to keep it there, this time chewing on his bottom lip.  Cho also kept pushing, getting deeper and deeper.  Jane canted his hips to take him in.  Cho groaned when he was as deep as he could be. Jane locked his ankles in the dip of Cho’s back when Cho started to move. Back and forth, push and pull, small thrusts.  Jane hummed. 

Cho lifted himself up onto his hands.  Jane reached for Cho’s hand to hold it.  Cho took his other hand too and brought both Jane’s hands up to the sides of his head.  He switched to long, pumping strokes, a look of concentration on his face.

“Feels good.”

Jane lifted his head to kiss Cho again.  He felt so connected.  Hands. Mouth. Groin. Completely connected. God, he needed this. He planted his feet back on the bed and started meeting Cho’s thrusts, urging him on, grunting with every thrust.  Cho was panting into his mouth, eyes intently watching Jane’s. 

Jane could stare into those eyes forever. 

“Patrick,” Cho whispered.

“More” Jane whispered back.

Cho let go of Jane’s hands and wrapped his arms behind Jane’s knees.  Jane’s legs were over Cho’s shoulders.  He let his legs fall open as far as Cho’s arms would let them, threw his arms behind Cho’s neck and hung on.  Cho used his knees and let his body take over, pounding into Jane. Jane’s erection was trapped between them.  With every thrust he made sure he got the friction he needed.  The next time Cho bottomed out he stayed there and ground down.  When Jane clamped down his muscles, he made Cho cry out, and that sent Jane over the edge.  His breathing was rapid, chest rising and falling.  Cho resumed thrusting to make it last for Jane, but the sight and sounds of Jane in ecstasy was too much.  Only two or three more thrusts and Cho let go with a deep groan.  Jane opened his eyes. He wanted to see and boy did he get an eyeful.  Cho was slack jawed, his eyes shut but not scrunched, he was breathing deeply and the muscles of his abdomen were still undulating.   Jane was mesmerized. 

That was when Cho opened his eyes and smiled. Jane had never seen this smile on Cho, open and relaxed and involved his whole face.  He even had crinkles at the side of his eyes.  Jane was overwhelmed, his whole body shivered and his eyes watered. He leaned up and kissed Cho with everything he had. 

When they had to replenish their air, Cho broke the kiss and put his head down on Jane’s chest.  They were both quietly clinging to each other and they fell asleep.


	6. Wrapping Up the Case

Van Pelt was to interview Steve Jones, the one Lisbon had dubbed “Bad Breath”. She started simply.

“Why don’t you tell us what happened,” she said sweetly.

He launched into to the whole sorry story; taking Lisbon from her home, the three different places they stayed in, the way they treated Lisbon, the whole nine yards. While Van Pelt wasn’t sorry for this man, she could tell he was sorry for what he had done.

“You didn’t want to do any of this, did you?” Van Pelt asked.

Steve sat for a moment, mulling over his options.  She was right, he didn’t want to participate.  He didn’t believe it would work.  He had told them they’d just wait for Lisbon to be returned.  He was pressured into it by the money, which would come in very handy, and his two best friends who’d been best friends since he was a kid.  He knew it would all go to shit, but they were going to do it with or without him, so he’d figured he’d better help.  What he said out loud was “I knew it wouldn’t work.”

“Go on”

“The underlying proposal, the idea was flawed.  Wouldn’t make no difference if Agent Lisbon were at that hearing or not.  Old Earl ain’t getting out, no matter whose dad he is”

“So why’d you do it?” Van Pelt wanted to keep him talking.  He seemed to want to anyway.

“Between you and me?” he asked.

“Yes, unless what you have to say has a direct bearing on the case, “ she answered.

“Those idiots can’t be trusted.  I might have to go down for kidnapping, but I weren’t gonna let them murder no one,”

Van Pelt’s eyebrows shot up at that.  She turned to glance at the rest of the team behind the glass.

“What do you mean?”

“Look, they take this nice lady so she can’t testify.  What was gonna happen if they did hold the hearing anyway and Earl wasn’t able to go home?  I couldn’t be sure if they’d take it out on her.  If Tracy and Tim had ordered it, they might have done that poor woman in.  I couldn’t stand by with someone’s life on the line,” he said firmly.

“It was you,” Van Pelt said, “you left the phone so Agent Lisbon could contact us.”

He was silent, but it was clear he had. 

“We were improvising and that’s when I thought things could get bad.  I had to do something. I knew if I could get it to her, she’d use it and this whole damned ordeal would be over.  I was going to find a chance to talk to her.  Then it rang.  I didn’t expect that. You can’t tell them, they’ll never forgive me.””

“My lips are sealed,” Van Pelt assured him, “they’ll never hear that from us, but if we tell the DA, I’m sure they will give you a good deal.”

He nodded his head.  “I am sorry.  I’m sorry I did what I did.  I’m sorry she was hurt.  Stupid, the whole thing was stupid.”

Van Pelt looked at him empathetically, but got up and left the interview room.

 

Cho woke up shivering, even though someone had covered him with a sheet.  He had a moment of disorientation before he remembered where he was.  He sat up to find Jane watching him carefully.  Jane had his suit pants back on, sitting at his desk chair.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Cho demanded.

“Are you kidding?”

“No.  What time is it?”

“I donno, why does it matter?” Jane said infuriatingly.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Cho stated matter-of-factly.

“Don’t say that,” Jane said quietly.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,”

“Then don’t say it like that.”

They looked at each other. 

“Jane.  I’m naked in your attic. I’m going to have to get dressed and go back to work and pretend this isn’t what I’ve been doing.”

“It’s almost nine at night, the team is long gone,” Jane said flatly.

“Nine?!  Jesus, Jane! I missed all afternoon!” Cho was a little ticked, he hung his head in his hands, slid his hands up to the top of his head and tried to think.  Then he realized.  “What did you tell the team?”

Jane smiled that stupid smug smile of his.  “I told them you were helping me with the case and you fell asleep up here with me.  Rigsby said after the stress of last week, and Lisbon still in the hospital and since we had all the suspects in custody, to let you sleep. Which is what I was going to do anyway. Van Pelt was finishing up the last interview right then.”

“C’mere,” Cho said lovingly.

Jane lept up and stood in front of Cho, who opened his arms for Jane who fell into them.  Jane loved hugs and he held on tightly, this one made even better because they weren’t wearing shirts.  Cho couldn’t see, but Jane was smiling ear to ear.  Jane couldn’t see, but Cho couldn’t help the corners of his mouth turning up.

Cho cleared his throat, regaining his composure.  “I should get dressed,” Cho sighed.  He looked at Jane with a curious look on his face.  “Come home with me,” he said simply.

“Okay,” was Jane’s immediate reply.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah”

They both got dressed and walked out together.

 

After a week or so, things were mostly back to normal.  Lisbon was back to work, chomping at the bit to be let back out in the field.  Tracy and Tim were charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.  David Haroldsen and Gary Tipoli were charged with kidnapping and a number of other charges.  Steve Jones was the only one not to be facing jail time, due to his helping Lisbon when push came to shove. Probation, though, lots of it.

Jane and Cho continued their self-defense sessions with Jane getting better and better, and the two of them getting closer and closer.


End file.
